Posts

Showing posts from March, 2017

Explore Feature in Google Suite

Image
Google Docs, Slides, and Spreadsheets  all now  include an "Explore" feature. You may have noticed this if you open up one of these documents and see this icon at the bottom of your sheet. When you click on this icon there are several things that both you and students will be able to do. Below are some examples.  Google Docs -  When there is text in a Google Document and then you press the Explore option there will be a search generated on the text of the Google Document. Students will be able to research and also have access to photographs based on that text.  Google Slides -  When you press the explore feature Google Suite will recommend different formatting and slide types for your presentation. This really helps to make high quality Slide decks. Google Sheets -  If you have a Google Sheet that is populated with data  then the explore feature will allow  you to ask questions about your data. For example, "What is the average of column B"  

Student Digital Creations

Image
Happy Friday! If you are interested in student made digital creations then you may enjoy the following tools SpeakPipe is a  easy way for students to  easily create mp3 voice recordings. This site does not require a login. You simply go to Speakpipe Voice Recorder   and press record. Once you finish your voice recording you can upload it to the server. After you do this you will have a unique link that students can go back and listen to their recording. Students and teacher  could also share this link in a Google Doc, Google Classroom, etc. . . For students who are over 13 one of my favorite digital creation sites is Adobe Spark. Here is an example of an adobe spark project.   With Adobe Spark students can make very professional looking Videos, animations, and online text documentaries.  Adobe spark requires students to sign up and log in with a free account.  There are also adobe spark apps for android and iOS devices. Finally, The Blog looks a little different th

Share to Classroom Extension

Image
Happy Friday! If this were a bracket then I would make the Share to Classroom App a #1 seed!  With the share to classroom App teachers can easily pushout a website to ALL of the students in their Google Classroom. For example, I want all of my students to access this virtual tour of Machu Picchu .  By installing the Free Push to Classroom Extension teachers can choose the link choose push to classroom and then  the link will automatically open on the students computer.  You can also create and push out assignments using the extension.      My number 2 seed would be the Alice Keeler Gradebook split extension .   Click this extension and it will automatically split your screen so you can have student work on one side and your gradebook on the other.   Also, I would like to make one more push for our unconference happening Saturday April 1st. This is  a FREE event.  This will be a time for educators from all over the state to come and learn from each other about innovative practices

The Spring Break Edition: Getting more out of Google Docs

Image
Happy Friday and Happy almost Spring Break. I hope that you have a great week next week.  This week I wanted to focus on a few things within Google Docs that may make your life much easier. Google Docs -  Did you know that there are already made Google Docs templates for you or your students to use? These are templates for Google Docs, Google Spreadsheet, and Google slides.    The easiest way to access these is to just type in docs.google.com , slides.google.com   or sheets.google.com into the address bar. (You will have to be signed into your CCSD account) and there you and your students can choose Templates for Reports, newsletter, essays, etc. . .  Because these are Google Docs that means that they are also collaborative Documents Also Google has added an "Explore" icon in these products as well. Explore is a new way to interact with your documents. For instance, in Google Slides it will recommend templates for you to use based on the text and pictures. In Spread